Is it championship or bust for the Nets this year? Plus, recapping the WNBA Draft

Goooooood morning and welcome to another Friday, friend! You've made it through the week and now there's only one of these newsletters keeping you from the weekend. Congratulations to you.

We've got some things to discuss here this morning, including takes on the Brooklyn Nets, reaction and analysis from last night's WNBA Draft and some possible new team names for the Washington Football Team. We're gonna have some fun.

Once we're done here, I give you permission to kick your feet up and clock out for the week. Have yourself a relaxing couple of days, indulge yourself and then report back to me here on Monday. In the meantime, I'll be grinding some "MLB The Show 21" all weekend. You can find me on Twitter if you need me.

Alright, let's party!

📰 What you need to know

1. What are the Nets' chances of actually winning it all? 🏆

The NBA Playoffs are creeping ever closer and there will be a number of storylines to look out for once the postseason gets here. Will LeBron James and the Lakers stay healthy enough to make a deep run and repeat? Will "The Process" finally lead to playoff success in Philly? Can the Clippers finally shake their playoff demons? Does Giannis Antetokounmpo finally have enough support in Milwaukee? Are the Jazz and Suns true contenders?

But the biggest story at the outset of these playoffs will inevitably be the Brooklyn Nets. I mean, how could they not be? Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden making their first postseason run together? That's going to be must-see TV, for better or for worse.

From our Bill Reiter:

"The Nets are really good in the regular season when these guys play together in some form. And yet … there's a lot of "and yets" to factor into the mix ... Durant has shown himself to be almost as sensitive as he is talented, so looming large over all of this is the notion that his insecurities over sharing stardom (and the ball) ... Irving, for his part, hasn't exactly been the model teammate when it comes to sticking around through the hard stuff ... And then there's Harden, an otherworldly talent who often seems to forget how to shoot 3-pointers during the playoffs."

Brooklyn's Big Three has only played seven games together this season, so there's a lot of mystery and uncertainty as to how they'll look in the playoffs. With that in mind, Reiter has asked around the league to gauge where some general managers, players and top executives land on the Nets' chances to go all the way this summer.

Here's my question at this point: Is it championship or bust for these guys this year? Would anything less be a disappointment? The talent is obviously there and they clearly need to win a title at some point in the next few years, but where's the bar this year? I'll leave that up to you.

2. Recapping the WNBA Draft 🏀

Fresh on the heels of March Madness, the next wave of WNBA stars traded in their college unis for pro threads last night. Those future stars were welcomed into the league on Thursday night via the (virtual) 2021 WNBA Draft. Our Jasmyn Wimbish has you covered with winners and losers from the big night:

Winner: Dallas Wings -- The Wings had three of the top five picks in the first round, including the top two overall selections. To no surprise, the Wings took dominant center Charli Collier with the No. 1 overall pick (hook 'em!) They also took Finland center Awak Kuier at No. 2 overall, adding some serious depth in the paint. Then they got Arkansas guard Chelsea Dungee at No. 5, giving them a dynamic scorer/strong outside shooter, and got a second-round steal in Dana Evans
Loser: Indiana Fever -- The first major surprise of the night came when the Fever reached for Kysre Gondrezick at No. 4. Not only do the Fever not need another guard, but Gondrezick was projected to be a second- or third-round pick. They also traded for Aaliyah Wilson (another guard) later in the draft, so it was a strange night for the Fever
Winner: Minnesota Lynx -- It was a big surprise that Rennia Davis fell out of the lottery and into the lap of the Lynx, but Minnesota was happy to scoop her up in that spot. Davis is an efficient scorer who plays tough defense and can guard multiple positions, so she'll fit in with a Minnesota team that ranked fifth defensively last season

Our Jack Maloney also has you covered with a full recap of the draft, including analysis and grades for every first-round pick. He also has a good explainer on who Gondrezick is and why she rocketed up the board to become the surprise of the draft.

3. Washington Football Team asks fans to consider some team names 🏈

Getty Images

The Washington Football Team will be sticking with that name for at least one more season (and they're considering keeping it permanently), but the organization is starting to put out some feelers for a possible new moniker as well. This week, the team sent out emails to season-ticket holders and presented them with a list of possible names, then asked them to provide some feedback.

Each season-ticket holder was given a list of roughly 10 names and asked to choose their two favorite
Not every season-ticket holder was given the same list of names and, in total, the team sent out more than 30 total names for consideration
Team president Jason Wright said that Washington will be using input from its fans to help choose the new name

You can check out the full list of potential names being floated around, but here are my five favorites:

Washington Armada
First City Football Club (FCFC)
Washington Redtails
Washington Renegades
Washington Red Hogs

They also have "Rising" on the list, and I think D.C. Rising would be a pretty incredible name, though I'm not sure the team is going to want to move away from Washington. There are also a couple of bizarre inclusions on the list ... including Demon Cats, Wild Hogs, and 32FC (W32).

Would love to hear where you land on this one.

4. Are the Angels and Reds for real? ⚾

This MLB season is still very young and we should always be careful not to overreact to small sample sizes in a 162-game season. But the opening weeks of the season have provided unexpectedly hot starts from several clubs -- including the Angels and Reds -- and how can we call ourselves sports fans if we don't at least debate whether they're "for real" or not?

Our MLB writers got together for a roundtable this week to weigh in on whether Los Angeles or Cincinnati is more likely to keep up this strong rush out of the gate.

Katherine Acquavella: "It's tough to pick against Mike Trout, who is off to a hot start himself this season. I'm also siding with the Halos because they've played (and won) against better teams to start the season"
R.J. Anderson: "I'll go with the Angels because they have more high-end talent and I think it's easier to see them taking advantage of some weak divisional foes"
Matt Snyder: "I'd probably say the Reds have a better chance at the playoffs due to playing in such a mediocre division, but I'd also say I think the Angels are going to be the better team"
Dayn Perry: "I think the Angels will wind up with more wins than Cincy this season, but I think the Reds have a better shot to win a division title in 2021"
Mike Axisa: "Cincinnati's strong start is built on a few too many outlier performances for my liking (sorry for not believing in you, Tyler Naquin) ... the Angels have played well despite a tough schedule and they have more star power, so I'm going with them."

You can read the full roundtable discussion here and then make up your mind for yourself. The dangerous thing about hot starts is they either provide a glimmer of hope that a team might be better than anticipated, or that glimmer of hope is completely false mirage that lead us down a path to disappointment. You don't want to be tricked down the wrong path.